Dialog Quality

• A Knowledge-Building Perspective
  
  A major part of the Global Change course grade comes from the discussion students enter on the web. It is expected, this being a senior-level course, that the discussion will be thoughtful and represent a knowledge-building process. Gerry Stahl has offered a valuable perspective on this issue in a recent conference:

  "Students more readily engage in discussion, responding spontaneously to existing notes without taking time to appropriate the ideas in new syntheses. True construction of knowledge involves distinct tasks including brainstorming, articulating, reacting, organizing, analyzing and generalizing." (Stahl, 1999)

• Metaphor of a Committee Meeting
  
  I think of the discussion as a committee meeting or a task meeting in a work environment. This is the kind of experience that most students will face in employment situations. People are usually asked to come to a meeting because they bring some information, skill, or insight that the committee needs to complete its task. So participation by everyone is desirable. The committee functions well when each member responds, when appropriate, to another committee member. Good comments usually elicit responses from others and irrelevant comments usually lead to a change of topic. The committee also functions well when each participant offers relevant comments that contribute to the task.
  
  Additionally, committee participants should come to the meeting prepared, meaning they should not ask questions for which information was provided in advance unless it was unclear (discussion should not ask for a repeat of class material, but should include requests for clarification or implications).





• Elements of Productive Committee Discussion
  
  

  1. Questions requesting clarification of ambiguous points
     

  2. New and relevant authoritative information that goes beyond what was provided
     

  3. Opinions, provided they are substantiated with logical arguments from accepted facts
     

  4. Synthesis of given information that suggests a new conclusion
     

  5. Hypotheses whose testing would lead to new information
     

  6. Calculations that lead to new conclusions or reveal new insights
     




• Elements of a Committee Discussion that do NOT Contribute to Productivity
  
  

  1. Sweeping generalizations ("politicians have ruined our national forests")
     

  2. Impractical solutions ("we should stop global warming now by not burning fossil fuels")
     

  3. Unsubstantiated claims ("global warming will turn the US Midwest into a desert")
     

  4. Questions raised that are broad and reverse progress of the discussion ("why do we have global warming?")
     

  5. Degrading or impolite comments ("Donna, that's a dumb idea")
     

  *Electronic dialog containing these characteristics will be graded low.*